Subbarao to move on, search for successor begins

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, Duvvuri Subbarao, is keen to move on and a search for his successor is underway, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday, quoting Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

"Dr. Subbarao had met me a few weeks ago and said he would like to move on and he would not like to be considered for another term. I accepted. So now we are in search mode," Chidambaram told the newspaper in an interview. (http://link.reuters.com/syp99t)

Subbarao, whose terms ends in September, told Reuters earlier this month he wants to move on but media speculation continued that he would be offered an extension as some believe the government would prefer to make no changes until the national elections in May.

India is going through difficult economic times, battling a weakening currency, a record-high current account deficit, lowest growth in a decade and still elevated retail inflation.

(Writing by Ranjit Gangadharan; Editing by Supriya Kurane)